Why the F.T.C. is taking a new look at Facebook privacy

In November 2011, Facebook agreed to settle charges that it had deceived consumers by “telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared and made public,” the F.T.C. said in a statement at the time.

The agreement prohibited Facebook from misleading consumers about their data privacy and security. The social network committed to getting the explicit consent of users before making changes that overrode their privacy preferences.

Since then, Facebook has made other admissions about privacy problems that experts said could potentially violate the consent agreement or trigger new federal charges of deceptive privacy practices.